Silver Lining
by FullmetalEddie
Summary: Short, just-for-fun oneshot humor. Castle gets a very unexpected visit at the precinct, but this dark cloud comes with silver lining.


Two cups of coffee sat idly on the desk of Detective Kate Beckett, one of their owners noticeably absent. Richard Castle, the missing detective's other half, heaved a rumbling sigh before uncomfortably shifting his weight on the edge of his partner's desk and glancing down at his watch for what seemed like the twentieth time that morning.

"Where is she," he thought to himself irritably, "she's never this late on the job. Hell, I'm usually the one she's waiting on."

He busied himself with the study of the adjacent murder board, adorned with artifacts of their most recent investigation, a robbery-homicide at a local antique dealer. It had been one of their more perplexing cases in months, with more twists, turns, and dead-ends than David Bowie's labyrinth.

"At least that labyrinth contained Jennifer Connelly" he mused, letting out a low chuckle at his own comparison.

His brow furrowed as his light blue eyes danced between the stern mugshots of their suspects; One of them had to be hiding something, or someone, that was the missing piece to the gruesome puzzle. An accomplice would make perfect sense, but with lawyers swarming over their only chance at further information, he doubted that it would be given willingly by the precinct's latest "guests".

He absent-mindedly nibbled on the cap of the worn whiteboard marker as he scanned the top-view map of the city containing the possible escape routes used by the perpetrator - or, as Castle suspected, multiple perpetrators. With eyes still transfixed on the brightly colored routes, he became dimly aware of a scuffle in the distance behind him. Crime was an early-riser, even if he wasn't; If Beckett still hadn't arrived by the time this fresh meat made it to booking, he made a mental note to ask around for the potentially juicy details of the early-morning arrest.

The marker popped as he flicked off the cap and scrawled some brief notes about his new-found suspicions underneath the map. The noise behind him became louder, breaking him from his inquisitive trance. Why were the morning arrests always the loudest? He added another bullet point to his hastily-transcribed grocery list of robbery conspiracies when a vaguely familiar voice chimed behind him.

"Richard Castle?"

He scribbled the final remaining letters of his "partners in crime?" memo before lazily re-capping the marker and pivoting on his heel to meet the stranger.

"The one and only, at your-"

Crimson streaked across his cheek and splashed to the floor as bone collided with the soft cartilage of his nose. Castle let out a sharp yelp as he spun to the grimy tile floor, bearing the brunt of his fall with his left shoulder. In a daze, he shook his head. Was that Beckett that he heard in the background? There was the man's voice again...

Bleary-eyed, he looked upward into the face of a very angry Josh, followed shortly by his mortified girlfriend.

"Josh, what the hell?" he heard her whisper violently as he became acutely aware of the stares and murmurs of the surrounding bullpen.

If Josh had heard her, he ignored it. "I knew you were a sneaky dirtbag, Castle, but this really takes the cake. Sleeping with another man's girlfriend while he's away in a third-world country, giving up his life to help others? I've seen some classless things, but this..."

Castle lay on the tile, half-propped on his elbow, wide-eyed. He spluttered in the blood that had dripped to his lips, mentally frozen. What the hell was this guy talking about?

Beckett spun Josh to face her with a less-than-gentle punch on the shoulder. "Josh, what else do you expect me to say? I told you back at the apartment - I have NEVER slept with Castle, and you have no right to come into my precinct and...and...assault him! I should arrest you!" She still hadn't given up the whispered tone, though at this point it was apparent that the three had become the star attraction of the morning. Castle's eyes flitted desperately to the desks of Esposito and Ryan, who were watching the spectacle, slack-jawed.

Josh's venomous tone rung out into the silence, uncaring of the audience that had inconspicuously gathered. "Oh, you expect me to believe that you haven't been sleeping around with him behind my back? After what you did this morning? That doesn't just happen, Kate, that was the voice of experience - literally."

Beckett wiped a weary hand down her face as Castle switched his deer-in-headlights gaze between Josh and his partner. Josh's face turned to him, still distorted with rage: "You should have heard the way she called out for you this morning in bed, Ricky - but, then again, I guess you already have. You two are both real scum, you know that? You deserve eachother."

With one last sneer in Castle's direction, Josh turned on his heel and strode out of the bullpen, leaving the precinct in a deafening silence. Kate's undoubtedly mortified eyes were still covered by her hand, but the shade of crimson she had turned spoke more than her words ever could. "I...I'm gonna..." she murmured, as she edged away from Castle before breaking into a brisk walk towards the door where Josh had exited.

Meanwhile, Esposito and Ryan had broken from their frozen state, hauling Castle to his feet and offering a wad of paper towels from the men's room to ebb the flow of blood from his nose.

Castle stood in his rumpled jacket before the murder board, still in a mental fog. "What...what just...?" he stuttered, fixing his eyes on nothing in particular.

"Man, you slept with Beckett and you didn't tell us?" Esposito chided, with a playfully disappointed look on his face.

"I think he broke my nose."

Ryan joined in with a cluck of disapproval, not even bothering to hide the mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Bro, how could you? Guy code."

"What? I didn't - we never - what just happened? My nose..."

The partners exchanged confused expressions over the dazed man between them before Esposito supplied more paper towels with a chuckle.

"Well, consider it a broken nose well worth the price." said Ryan, a devilish grin spread across his face.

"Silver lining, bro. Silver lining."


End file.
